Former Marussia F1 aero test driver Maria de Villota has been speaking this weekend of her new life, following her life threatening accident at Duxford almost a year ago.

De Villota was doing straight line aero tests on the runway at the former WWII airbase when she crashed into the open tailgate of a truck which was parked near the team’s temporary pit awning.

Formula 1 held its breath as she underwent a series of vital operations at Adenbrokes Hospital in nearby Cambridge. She suffered a severe head injury, lost her right eye and required 104 stitches in her face.

She was speaking this weekend at a conference in Madrid and gave a fascinating interview to La Gazzetta dello Sport in which she spoke about “life reinvented” and says she feels okay,

“Within the limits of what’s possible, the damage to my head conditions my day; I’m better in mornings than afternoons, I lost feeling in the right side of my head, I have headaches, that’s the worst bit and I’ve lost my sense of smell.

As for living with only one eye, and of the prospect of driving again she said, “I’m starting to learn perspective better, but I’m getting better at calculating distances. I don’t have reference points, for example for braking or with another car in front. It will get better, but I don’t know how much.”

De Villota says that she remembers every moment of the incident at Duxford, “But I cannot speak about it because it is the subject of an investigation. I believe in justice and I prefer to act cautiously, that the investigators will do their work and establish what happened that day.”

As for how the accident has changed her outlook on life she says, “I have a totally different view on life, the scale of values changes from what I was used to; problems are all relative, I see life with great optimism.

“Initially I was angry with the doctor because he had failed to save my eye, but then little by little I became aware that losing an eye was a lot less important with respect to what I still had; life itself. I felt I’d been part of a miracle. I look now at my scars as part of my story, I carry them with pride.”

As for the future she is throwing herself into various projects including a road safety campaign with the FIA and some F1 broadcasting work with Spanish TV rights holder Antenne 3.

* A programme on Women in Motorsport, hosted by BBC Radio 5 Live F1 presenter Jennie Gow will air on that station on Tuesday 30th April at 9.30pm. The programme is not rights restricted so can be listened to anywhere in the world via Tune In app or online. This is the talked-about show which features some rather 20th century views from Sir Stirling Moss as well as input from Williams’ development driver Susie Wolff, Claire Williams, Bernie Ecclestone and others.

Darn, this story is super sad, very sad more so because this accident happened to a woman driver.

I mean, Maria's injuries such as the loss of smell and the eye wouldn't have been a great deal if this had happened to a bloke but for it to happen to a woman >>> OMG!!! my heart bleeds for her.

Yes it's true, most women would rather die than deal with anything that alters their beauty.

Anyway, good on Maria for being a brave girl and for carrying on with her life as best as she could, I really hope the investigation goes her way so she can at least clinch a massive compensation from someone.

P.s.

A major thanks goes out to the medical people that make miracles happen everyday.

My first reply didn't get posted, so I'll try less sarcasm with this one.

Your views, if genuine, are extremely sexist and insulting. I have noticed previously on this forum, from different people (and a minority, it has to be said), some lazy gender stereotyping, of the kind that is 'acceptable' to Top Gear presenters.

This blog is a superb example of 21st century technology bringing people together. It's a shame that some of the views expressed are more 19th century...

"injuries such as the loss of smell and the eye wouldn’t have been a great deal if this had happened to a bloke"

Really? In what way are a male's senses worth less to him than a female's are to her? If one of the current F1 rookies lost an eye (and probably ended their career) that "wouldn't have been a great deal" to them?

"Yes it’s true, most women would rather die than deal with anything that alters their beauty."

Can you please post your source for this statistic. I have not done the research, but I suspect that most (98+%) people (women or men) would rather live and deal with whatever cards they have been dealt.

Also, you seem to be again linking someone's subjective aesthetic with the emotional impact of losing an organ and/or a sense (and potentially, their career in this case).

Whether a person is male or female, objectively ugly or beautiful, I don't see how the impact of such an event to that individual can be so easily categorised as being important or not, based on those criteria.

Wow! "I lost feeling in the right side of my head, I have headaches and I’ve lost my sense of smell". That is pretty shocking.

"Losing an eye was a lot less important with respect to what I still had; life itself" - something WE, the ones not having any disabilities should realize before anything life-changing happens to us, otherwise people seem to forget about all the advantages like feeling, smelling and seeing they have and take them for granted.

I was looking at a tech document for the 2014 car the other day and wondered why there is still no protective canopy. That would certainly have saved Maria from her horrible injuries. Hers was not the first such accident and might not be the last, indeed just last year, Alonso had a close shave with Grosjeans car flying his head.

The canopy mighty be ugly, but its necessary. At the very least, we should have roll bars.

Quade, you are right accidents do happen - that is why risk should be reduced wherever possible. I made no comment about the truck having been parked dangerously - the lunacy was leaving the tailgate at the same height as a drivers head.

Again you are right in that we have no eyewitness reports of any attempt at a doughnut. That is the point - the only report we have had these many months later was that the car suddenly accelerated in a confined space and hit the dangerously placed tailgate. It is incredible that we have heard nothing else - it has all been kept very quiet. If there had been a fault with the car I am sure we would have heard about it. Therefore speculation is all we have left... and, as I said, I cannot help but wonder. A failed attempt at a doughnut fits the situation a bit too easily to be ignored.

I once had an employee cut a finger off on a saw. The insurance assessor declared it was not an accident as nothing had failed - he cut his finger off by carelessness - however unintentional. Human nature is what causes so many catastrophes. No matter how safe we try to make things people still get injured.

Arguably F1 is too safe already - there is so little consequence running off track drivers do it all the time. Gravel traps meant drivers stayed on track as straying onto one meant almost certain retirement - and gave just as uncertain results as Pirelli tyres...

I don't know where you get the idea that there have been other accidents such as Maria's. Hers was the only car running and was not on an F1 circuit. I have certainly never heard of an F1 car hitting a lorry tailgate that some lunatic had left in such a potentially dangerous position. I doubt a canopy would have made much difference - and F1 cars have had roll bars for a great many years now.

This freak accident occurred at a far from normal venue where a still relatively new team was testing with a driver with very limited experience of such a powerful machine. There were definitely silly errors by the team (the tail lift) and... I cannot help but wonder if Maria was attempting a couple of "doughnuts" in the restricted space the team was using as a temporary pits.

On a more positive note it is good to see Maria smile. She has obviously made a huge mental recovery as well as physical.

Accidents are always caused by mistakes, faults or an act of God. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_of_God

There is not a single eyewitness report that even remotely suggests that Maria was doing doughnuts, was being silly or that a lunatic had packed left the truck in a dangerous place.

Finger pointing based on guesswork is not constructive.

What happened was an accident, so lets deal with it in that context.

It was an accident in which a test drivers head had an impact of enough force to cause horrendous injury. What we should be asking ourselves is if the force of impact could have been reduced or deflected, resulting in significantly less injury and avoiding tragedy. Obviously, any protection around the head would have helped. Either a forward roll-hoop or canopy which have been extensively tested by the FIA would have saved Maria from some or all of the injuries she is now carrying for life.

The loudest arguments against forward roll-hoops and canopies is that they are ugly. That argument pales into insignificance when weighed against cost in life and limb.

for me it wouldn't be F1 if it had a canopy, why not enclose the wheels to stop possible flips. Why not have drone drivers to stop possible injuries? They know the risks of an open wheel car, just get on with it.

Good to see her so positive and being involved in the FIA road safety work. These investigations always seem to take an eternity & it would seem that she may be seeking closure with whatever the evidence brings by now.

James do you know if she is still in regular contact with Marussia ?It must be quite tricky because both parties must be silenced pending the outcome of the investigation.

Considering that de Villota ‘remembers every moment of the incident’ and that all the telemetry data is most likely available, why is the Health and Safety Executive taking so long in its investigation?

Surely it would be to the benefit of all parties concerned (and F1) to clear the matter up expeditiously?

The preliminary investigation by Marussia indicated it was a driver error. Even with the tailgate closed, she could've hurt herself pretty bad. It was lack of experience and some terrible luck. I wish the young lady a speedy recovery, and i hope she returns to competitive sports someday.

It reminds me of something I thought at the time. Basically, I found it very interesting that after the accident Marussia stated to the press that "obviously, the first priority is to clear the car." As though the car couldn't possibly be at fault, even though it had yet to be investigated. I forget who it was, but it was in the team principle briefing ahead of the following race.

I thought that the turn of phrase was telling. Or am I reading too much into it? I wonder.

I'd think of it more in terms of it being one of the few things they could really do. They might not have good footage of the incident to look at, they couldn't exactly get Maria's point of view at the time (nor would it have been their place do to so), etc. But they had the telemetry, hard data of exactly what was happening with every aspect of the car at the time, and the car is basically their area of expertise.

Thanks for the article, James. My mother lost an eye in a botched operation, and my wife lost her sense of smell (and very nearly an eye) in a cycling accident. They are genuine disabilities, but life does go on. Maria appears to be heading int he right direction.

“I believe in justice and I prefer to act cautiously”. Perhaps it’s just the translation, but that sounds like she feels the accident was not her fault. ---- funny how two people can read the exact same thing and come to different conclusions, b/c I see that as her acknowledging that speaking out on the issue will only increase her liability. If the other party were negligent, she would have nothing to fear in pointing that out. As it is, her silence is deafening and speaks volumes about the shame she must feel for having hurt her then-team's interests.

I am following this story once more having almost forgotten about it. Maria crashed having 'suddenly accelerated' to 30/40mph. The car has since been cleared of any malfunction, and so it remains a mystery why the car accelerated, and why she was unable to avoid the trailer. By stating that she remembers everything she is referencing the ongoing investigation and letting us know that she has a clear version of events, which she has presumably told the HSE.I look forward to their findings, because as it stands I cannot see a fault with anyone, or anything other than the driver.

I read a coroners report about a case in Australia where a driver was parking his car a few floors up in a multi storey car park. After initially parking, he thought the nose was too far out into the aisle so he decided to get back in and reverse a little further. The car was prevented from moving further back by a wheel stop until more power was applied and the wheel stop partially gave way. The car suddenly hopped over it, crashed through the barrier on the edge of the building and unfortunately the man died when the car flipped and landed on its roof below. It turns out that the barrier was not designed to stop vehicle impacts because it was interpreted that where wheel stops had been installed it was not required.

To my amazement the investigation found that the driver was in no way at fault. Everything else was at fault

Maria's accident did not happen at an F1 circuit but rather at an Airforce base airstrip in Duxford. She was doing top speed straight line acceleration tests. No lunatic "had left the truck in such a potentially dangerous place" (Jonathan - above), it was the carrier truck that brought her Marussia car to the Airforce base airstrip, which was parked on the side, off the tarmac, at the airstrip. My heart goes out to Maria. Thank God she is a strong woman. God almighty will NEVER saddle you with any grief that you cannot handle. Investigations are in progress, and for now the car is cleared of any faults which could have resulted in the crash.